Buying a Toshiba? Think Again | My Toshiba Nightmare Story

Buying a brand new laptop? Think twice before getting a Toshiba. Well, think thrice! Since I was going to cover Le Tour de Filipinas both as a participant and media correspondent, I decided to replace my old laptop (a toshiba too!) with a brand new Toshiba C640 laptop.

My laptop looked exactly like this. Yes, the whole time since it never turned on.

Here is the timeline of my horror story.

Le Tour de Filipinas is from April 14, 2012 (Saturday) up to April 17.

I bought the laptop around 6pm tuesday at PC EXPRESS Gilmore, just in time because we were leaving 1pm the following day (Wednesday).

Before I bought it, I canvassed of course and looked at all the options.

I loved the look and simplicity of the Toshiba C640. Even if its priced higher than other laptops, it didn’t matter to me. It’s for business anyway so I’m thinking it’s a good investment.

Plus, everyone is saying TOSHIBA’s are durable. Hey, if you’ll look at the specs, the HD of the C640 is shock proof too!

This should last me a long time right?

So did it?

To my surprise, when I got home, my brand new Toshiba C640 laptop won’t turn on.

Since we were leaving 1pm the next day, I wasn’t able to sleep anymore because I trying to google for a solution and fix the Toshiba.

As expected, nothing worked. So I went to the store at 9am the following day to have it warrantied. I even waited outside because the store opens at 10!

I called their international hotline number and even the Toshiba experts couldn’t figure out whats wrong with it.

PC Express replaced it eventually but it has already given me a lot of unwanted stress. (that’s why I freaking bought a new one!)

So off we went to our 1st stopover for Le Tour de Filipinas and after the 7 hour road trip, we decided to call it a night. I, of course, got excited to use my newly replaced laptop (at the back of my mind though I’m really scared to turn the laptop on thinking it’s gonna be a lemon again..)

Then I summed up the guts to click the power button.. *click*

%@#$%!@#%!%!!!!

Nothing happened! To make things worse, it was completely dead. No standby light, no AC/ON light, no fan, no nothing.

How the hell can this happen to me?? Two times??

Since I was at the province I had to ship the laptop back to PC Express because it will miss the 7 day warranty replacement period! (Thanks Mail and More for handling the shipping)

At this point, I was already at wits end. I bought a brand new laptop for the event now I am a media partner without a laptop! Not to mention, I got a website to run!

I was sharing a laptop with my roomie and sometimes had to go online on internet cafe’s!

To add insult to injury, a lot of people were telling me to buy other brands but since my previous laptop was a Toshiba, I decided to purchase another one.

Plus, I really loved my old Toshiba laptop.

Moving on.. so instead of just focusing on the grueling 4 day race, I had to coordinate at home and even make my pregnant sister bring the defective Toshiba C640 laptop back to PC Express.

Y’all know what they say.. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Fool me thrice? No freaking way.

Now I’m off to have it refunded. Any suggestions?

Here’s a funny side story :

When I was talking to the manager of PC Express, he told me that after some time, the laptop turned on eventually. The laptop was just in hibernate mode “lang pala”. I was trying to get a hint whether or not he was trying to say that I was the one at fault because I was so ready to blow my fuse off. But then it hit me, if it indeed was just in hibernate mode, how come none of their techs could resuscitate it back to life??

They eventually ruled it as a defective motherboard.

Now that’s one hell of a hibernate mode! Even trumps the hibernation of Polar Bears!

I’m not out for blood because I know I’m nothing compared to a company as big as Toshiba.

Honestly, I’m really sad that it happened and that it made me lose my trust in Toshiba.

But I feel it’s my duty and responsibility to warn the public about defective laptops.

Feel free to pass and share.

Comments

comments

SBR.ph Team

A triathlete making a comeback and a true blue Scorpio. That sums it up quite nicely :)

8 Comments

  1. Hi! I also had same issue with the TOshiba Satellite L770D-ST6NX1 Laptop that my BF from Florida brought home for me as a gift. He wanted to replace the Toshiba netbook that he got for me last year. He got this once since it has Quadcore processor, higher memory and storage, Blu ray etc.. He thought this would be perfect. He got the laptop in one of the stores in FL, he checked and used it for 1 hour and brought it here in the Phils after a couple of weeks. He was so excited to show me the laptop on his arrival, but to our surprise, the laptop’s monitor was blank though we could hear a sound that it was turning on and light indicators were on. We tried to troubleshooot by removing the battery and putting it back and then turning it on again, monitor is blank. We tried to charge it for an hour and then turned it on, but the monitor is still BLANK. My bf spent 799 dollars for a defective laptop. We don’t have a choice but to bring the laptop in one of the repair shops in Robinson’s Manila rather than bringing the laptop back in US and then have it ship to Toshiba via Fedex delivery and then wait 6 months for the repaired unit delivered back to you. The technician told us it could be the LED. we were charged 10,000 for the parts and repair… ayyyy :(

  2. I had the same situtation as yours . I used to have toshiba laptop for past n years , so long , i dont even rember , the m portege series. strong and sturdy . But the the advent of new technology , I thoguht to rpelace my sweet and small lappy. Obvious choice was a toshiba c640 , as I had v good experience with toshiba .
    BUT , but
    but to my horror , the new C640 worked well for only 2 days!! It dint boot up . only a green light comes for one second , thats it. not even going to boot prom . Well MADE IN CHINA you see. What should I expect. more than half of the gadgets are produced there. In the end , I had 4 days without backup , thank fully i had onsite warrantybut it was so ppor that they dint come within 24 hours , worse still not even in 48 hours ,not even they confirm by a phone call. finally , a poor soul arrived and said my mother board is faulty and they will get one in 3 days!!!!
    PATHETIC is the word. I remember for my friend who owns a dell , he had problem with keyboard and they replaced him a complete laptop. WOW. thats how should the service be .
    I can vouch for toshiba quality for old laptops , but seriously doubt the new ones now .

    1. Thanks Randy! I really do hope magawan ng action to.

      Bukod sa perwisyo, I never really got anything from PC EXPRESS or TOSHIBA for the hassle.

      Toshiba called me to ask about what happened.. and then that’s it.

      Pretty sad.

      So much for the famed Toshiba customer service

  3. I have a Toshiba Portege Laptop, that my wife got more than a year ago. It is our second Toshiba Laptop since our first finally conked out after more than ten years of usage. So I am curious about this “toshiba c640”!

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